Went 2-2 ATS last week and would have been 3-1 if I’d remembered never to lay 9 points on an Andy Reid-coached team under any circumstances. Still, 2-2 is a good start. Need a 3-1 week to keep the dream of topping 7-4 alive. I’m confident.

Atlanta at Philadelphia

Saturday – 3:20 pm CT

Pick: Falcons -3

This is the hardest game to analyze on the weekend because it’s impossible to know what to expect from Nick Foles. But if the Falcons defense plays as fast and angry as it did against the Rams, how could anyone expect Foles to get anything done through the air? A few interceptions are likely as the Falcons continue their journey to Super Bowl redemption…maybe. Falcons 20, Eagles 14.

Tennessee at New England

Saturday – 7:15 pm CT

Pick: Patriots -13

This Titans crap has gone on long enough. Patriots 27, Titans 10.

Jacksonville at Pittsburgh

Sunday – 12:05 pm CT

Pick: Steelers -7

Here’s my hot take for the column: the Jaguars defense is overrated. Jimmy G tore them to ribbons on Christmas Eve. Since then they’ve faced the offensive juggernauts of Tennessee and Buffalo and could easily have lost to both. (Tyrod Taylor had plenty of opportunities.)

I can’t imagine a scenario where Ben Roethlisberger repeats his mid-season “maybe I don’t have it anymore” nightmare. I can imagine a scenario where Chad Henne finds his way onto the field to replace Blake Bortles. Steelers 30, Jags 10

New Orleans at Minnesota

Sunday – 3:40 pm CT

Pick: Saints +5

Last week I didn’t trust Goff. This week I don’t trust Keenum. Both had wonderful regular season but the playoffs are an entirely different animal. Every single throw carries the weight of the entire season. Is Keenum ready for that pressure?

New Orleans has the corners to limit what the Vikings receivers can do outside, allowing their front to harass the Minnesota signal caller into mistakes. Then the game falls on the arm of Drew Brees and, well, he’s just fine with that. Saints 20, Vikings 17

I like the argument Florio made. Some team always goes into playoff must win mode around Thanksgiving, and they’re drilled and tested and tend to catch bye week teams by surprise.
I was also impressed by ATLs brain trust last week. Outcoaching McVay and Wade not easy. Add the humiliation of the SB loss to the mix…think they got it.

Pats 27 – Titans 13

I wanna give the Pats another 7 points, but may start off slow, though I fully expect them to figure it out and take them out.

I don’t see how the Titans score 2 TDs. Mariotta will have a running one, maybe their TE, but I just don’t see it. I like Henry, but I think the Pats are gonna do their nullify #1 threat thing, and that means Henry and the read-option.

Steelers 23 – Jags 9

Too many weapons and experience on the Steelers side, and what’s more, the Killer Bs are clutch. They’ll simply make more plays when it matters.

The Jags are too immature imo, and Bortles is going to demoralize them; they’ll do a bunch of stupid shit to sabotage themselves. I expect a lot of FGs on both sides.

Vikes 30 – Aints 24

Everyone’s been doubting Keenum all yr. I’ve watched a lot of him, and he’s no game manager. . Everyone keeps waiting for him to go full Cutler, and he reeaally flirts with it, but somehow always manages to make just the right throw, escape the sack, scramble for a 1st when his team needs it.

Saints SHOULD’VE lost last week if not for major drops by Panthers, including two in the endzone where Cam couldn’t hand it off better. Then everyone’s talking about how stupid and overaggressive Payton was.

I think the Vikes will get a score on D or specials as cherry on top. Barring a Keenum self-implosion, I simply don’t see how they lose this game.

CaponeBot 1.0

some analyst rewatched the Falcons Rams game and analyzed everything. The 2 turnovers by that Rams guy totally fucked the whole mojo of the game. He felt the Rams overall still outplayed the Falcons and that’s why he feels Philly will pull off this upset.

He hasn’t taken a shit since the Bears last went to the Championship game!

CaponeBot 1.0

it’s a weekend of great football dude, start being a guy again.

#MBDAGA

Dis Guy Trublinsky (Johnnywad)

You convinced BD isn’t a middle aged woman?

I’m at 50/50.

BearDown100393

I’m at 100% this board is filled with McCaskey cuckold drunks who really don’t care about winning.

Irish Sweetness

Titans +13
Jags +7
Philly +3

Take the points baby. The three best Ds in their matchups.

Dump the toss-up game. Worked last week!

leftcoastdave

Irish: Charles London, Penn State. Saquon Barkley.
You can dream?

Dis Guy Trublinsky (Johnnywad)

Anybody else read Baffoe’s stuff on the Score’s website?

I like that dude. This is from his piece this week.

“When I think of Silverstein, I reflexively go to “Invitation”. And as I looked at Nagy, half my jaded brain tuned out the special mulligan stew of football press conferencisms he and his new boss, general manager Ryan Pace, chewed in their most earnest tones. I began to think of the various flotation devices the decent Bears fan out there — not the caricature spittling sausage chunks or the Cubs fan hybrid eternal pessimist — is currently using on this sea of frustration and insecurity we were flooded with years ago as punishment for the 10-6 Lovie Smith firing. And I thought of what keeps any of them afloat, not giving in to just easily, mercifully sinking away.

I figured it’s that tiny glow deep within, the one that flickers ever so brighter with the thought of what a new franchise era might bring despite so many letdowns since the VHS in your parents’ basement of the Super Bowl in January 1986 or the sardonic twitch of the corner of a lip at reading “The Sitter.” It never quite extinguishes, no matter the crushing realities of ownership with your favorite team or office.

That decent Bear fan is still a dreamer. A wisher and definitely a liar. A hope-er? Check. A pray-er? God yes. And the decent Bears fan has bought a lot of magic beans in the Marc Trestman time alone. (Raises hand.)“

Viva Dave Toub

I went to college with his brother, Matt…

CanadaBear

I haven’t prayed in 50+ years and I’m sure as hell not starting over the Beloved. Gotta stand for something!

Dis Guy Trublinsky (Johnnywad)

Yeah. Never got the God and sports connection. A Christian thankful for the opportunity to play professionally is certainly understandable if you’re the religious sort. But praying with conviction for a win, which I’ve seen, is nuts.

CanadaBear

Recovering catholic. 12 years of catholic schools! Embracing atheism for the last 50+!

leftcoastdave

Just read about Charles London’s connection to Penn State. This is sure to get Irish’s hopes up for Saquon Barkley.

thoughts on a new bears offense.
—————–https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2018/1/12/16878028/what-can-bears-fans-expect-from-matt-nagys-offense-trubisky-nagy-cohen-howard-shaheen

FresnoBear88

Helfrich new OC.

John F

Falcons – 10
Eagles – 13

Tennessee – 0
New England – 44

Jacksonville – 3
Pittsburgh – 20

New Orleans – 14
Minnesota – 17

willbest

Everything looks believable except Atlanta only scoring 10 points.

Although the conspiracy theorist in me believes that the refs start nudging the game in favor of a team that is getting blown out during the playoffs, so your Ten-NE prediction is unlikely. I mean how else do explain Titans getting back in it? Triplette was on that field. He shouldn’t even be a ref let alone doing playoff games. Why? Cause he is Goodell’s goto enforcer.

John F

Re: Atlanta – Gonna be 32 degrees in Philly at game time. That is way different on a dome team then playing outdoors in LA and 70 degrees.

Goal in 2018 should be playoffs, 2019-20 have to aim for SB title IMO.

willbest

The Bears can’t block anybody for interviewing for HC

Bear Instincts

Not saying we should block him. Never want to keep anyone from advancing in their career. Just wondering how committed he is to the Bears

willbest

If Cleveland offered him the HC job next year he would take it. I don’t know why you would expect anybody like Vic who has been passed over multiple times for the promotion to turn it down because the circumstances weren’t right.

BearDown100393

How committed is any coordinator in the league??

“Modestly” Huge Bears Penis

Commitment does not matter. Any coordinator is going to do there best damn job possible, if not they get fired, they may get a second chance but most likely they will end up in the college ranks or worse.

8. Chicago Bears
Christian Wilkins, DE, Clemson. If the Bears re-sign Mitch Unrein, or if Key or Chubb make it to No. 8, theBears are probably going to go in a different direction. But with how the board plays out here, Wilkins would seemingly be a great fit as a 3-4 base end that can kick inside in nickel downs and be just as effective getting into the backfield. New coach Matt Nagy may want to give Mitchell Trubisky a new No. 1 weapon, but that strategy makes most sense after a trade down. Any team targeting a quarterback may want to give Chicago a call if their desired prospect is still on the board here.

If we cant get Chubb I would go with Wilkins. Arden Key is way to small. He is going to need to put on a lot of weight. With Wilkins, Goldman and Hicks our line will be an absolute terror

KentuckyBearsFan

The other way to go would be O-line. Protects Trubisky and helps Howard….and anything that extends drives helps the entire D because they won’t be on the field for 40 minutes a game.

Bear Instincts

hard to argue with that. I’m ok with the OG/OT from ND or Chubb/Wilkins…any of those 4 is a win for us

I’m still intrigued by another Clemson guy, Clellin Ferrell, should he declare.

Dude’s only 20 and has upside through the roof. Also has the length Fangio loves in an edge rusher.

Bear Instincts

Thanks. Totally forgot about him. Wilkins always caught my attention when watching Clemson. We really have options this year on both sides of the ball. Wonder if anyone would be available if we traded back a few spots.

This is why i wanted Poe and Baker last FA.
Can never have enough big boyz

leftcoastdave

Bullock was looking great until he strained the biggest, most important muscle in his body, that being his big arsed glute. Roy Rob-Harrison also had his moments for a red-shirt UDFA who put on forty or fifty pounds. He is long and quick at 6’7 300. The the one weakness which remains is John Jenkins, a five year vet.
Yup, we could use another big uglie in the middle, but the six we’ve got are pretty good.

Both Bullard and RRH showed enough to bring them back. Hopefully they both take another step or two. Can’t imagine Jenkins is back unless there is guaranteed money. Would love to see the Beloved sign at least one DL and draft one at the very least.

leftcoastdave

Agree completely and like the way they gave RRH and Morgan a year to bulk up. We’ll see what it does for Morgan coming in at G. RRH can be a great pass rusher with his speed and long, long arms.

All I ask is for one Blue-chip Dline that gets us excited, not an inj dude on a one yr contract we’re crossing our fingers about.

leftcoastdave

The last two years required quantity. Too many needs. Now when you include the walking wounded there are no gaping holes other than WR. That assumes resigning Fuller and Prince. Not that there will not be upgrades to be had. That first round pick will be a tough choice with the great O line prospects sitting there as potential ten year players, but Edge is usually more immediate impact and our O line “pretty good” but not yet great.
This draft will be fun.

Cassondra

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Tabor was the only hire I was really struggling to understand. It was probably just a reflexive reaction to anything associated with the Browns.

Upon further googling, it appears, on paper at least, to make sense.

“Chris Tabor: The veteran special teams coordinator returns to Chicago after a seven-year stint at Cleveland. Under Tabor, the Browns’ special teams ranked sixth in kickoff return average allowed, seventh in punt return average, ninth in total kickoff return yards and 10th in total return yards allowed since Tabor took over in 2011. Prior to his time in Cleveland, Tabor served as Dave Toub’s special teams assistant in Chicago from 2008-10.”

Wonder how many kickers and punters we’re gonna see when the OTAs get under way.

I also think we’ll have those two vet kickers duel it out. Santos and that guy who made a 55.

Hopefully they bring in another young boot

Dis Guy Trublinsky (Johnnywad)

I don’t know about Santos. He got shit canned because he was injured. He barely even got warmed up with the Bears when he was re-injured. Pass.

Nugent, let’s see more. Not sold yet, but he sure has enough leg.

CanadaBear

I”d give the guy a chance, along with Nugent and hopefully another kicker and at least 1 punter.

Big Mike

You know how many young kickers are out there wandering around? dozens. Maybe hundreds. Place Kickers. Punters are bit tougher to find.

CanadaBear

Exactly! I know it’s tough to find the guy that can do it with the lights on and the game on the line but ya can’t stop looking.

leftcoastdave

Mike, you lovin’ the Hiestand hire like I’m lovin’ the Hiestand hire?

Big Mike

It a very big deal. His track record is all-pro caliber. Every stop in his career he’s built good to great OLines with whatever he had. See Garza, Tait, Kreutz and Beekman (?). Practically speaking every guy on the OL just got better. The player we draft will outperform his slot. BTW, that’s the other thing, his eye for talent and ability to see what can be improved and what can’t is going to be a weapon. Bears will end up with a Cody Whitehair type pick this year. I’d even be willing to see the bears take a run at a tackle in FA. The other thing about his groups , is he builds quality depth.

Absolutely. We’ll be flush with cap, and this time around the Jags won’t have a billion in cap while the Browns will always be the Browns, so we’ll have the new car smell AND have $.

No excuses to sign leftovers. Pace needs to be aggressive. The time is now.

CanadaBear

There’s no doubt in my mind George and Sweaty Teddy mentioned the clock is ticking when they re-signed Pace. I’m hoping there will be some actual buzz about the Bears this year. That would help. When Fangio signs I’ll be pretty happy.

Though I do read some scouting reports on the top 10 guys since we usually pick top 10.

And I have watched a smidgen of college this yr, but I’ll def get into the tap more in a few weeks.

Remind me later when the draft talk really starts going.

leftcoastdave

Somebody already mocked him to us this week.

CanadaBear

Hope you’re correct. I don’t remember much buzz but I was already bummed and on the 5-11 train.

Dis Guy Trublinsky (Johnnywad)

Wonder what the future bet in Vegas would have paid you for that? 🙂

CanadaBear

I’ve been pretty good the last few years when they have been terrible. I haven’t placed a bet since I quit working in casinos.

Dis Guy Trublinsky (Johnnywad)

I’m sure. If there’s one thing I’ve learned around the track and the casinos, stick around long enough, see enough, and you’d lose your appetite for it. I can’t imagine what it’s like to work in one.

CanadaBear

Other than when I first started I worked day shift 6:30-4:00. Take all of the cash out of the machines, count it and account for it by machine, help get the cashiers going and then hit the floor at 10. Always worked in the slot area so it was mostly old farts. At some point you get to be kinda, sorta friends with some of them (you’re always working for tips) and feel bad for them throwing their money away. I hated working at night and only did that for a few weeks.

Dis Guy Trublinsky (Johnnywad)

Correct. This has been my guess for going on two years.

Pace has stated openly he intends to build for the long haul, THROUGH the draft.

Fox was likely always a rental babysitter.

The Free Agent contracts to date have made sense when looking through this lens. (Outside of Glennon and Barth. Huge misses)

I expect him to step it up a bit in FA this year. But I’d guess it still won’t be quite what you’d like to see. If what you want is an A, I’d bet you’re gonna see a very solid B to B+.

Bears should stock the pantry with enough veteran talent this Spring to go win games and be a very real threat for the Division in December.

If that holds true, that means Trubisky and Nagy are goods and are progressing well.

Smart. Would still like Sanchize to stay on as a QB coach/assistant though.

“When Pederson left to become the Eagles’ coach, he crafted the same three-layered quarterback incubator, calling the plays while coordinatorFrank Reich and quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo developed Carson Wentz.

Nagy, Helfrich and an as-yet-unnamed quarterbacks coach — incumbent Dave Ragone would make sense, as they all have the same agent — should provide Trubisky with the same three layers of guidance”.

CanadaBear

Pretty obvious Sanchez can be a QB coach any time he wants. If the fire goes out for playing …

Trub’s gonna learn the system. Yes, it’s a complex system, and he’ll need help, but hiring a QB for that?

No thanks.

The position is too important.

I still want a mid rd lotto QB to groom behind Trub.

that way, if Trub godforbid goes down, we’ll have a guy we’re looking forward to, and not fucking Chase Daniels.

That’s what teams like the Pats and Puke do – draft a guy. Mold him.

Hope we do the same.

Leave the teaching to the coaches and Sanchize.

willbest

Brady, Manning, and Big Ben have represented the AFC for 13 of the last 14 years (Flacco’s Ravens in 2013 being the lone exception). As much as I think the Jags and Titans have no chance, I would really like to see one of them make it. Like could Bortles just fucking rise to the occasion for 2 games. Like not even good, just 220 and a TD with no INTs.

On the NFC side the NFCC I most want to watch is Saints @ Minny. Oh wait we are getting that this weekend because the Rams fucked up. Um… wow, I don’t care about any of the 4 possible NFCC, but as Brees is a fellow boilermaker I will throw my hat in with him.

The oregon connection is interesting (not that anything can salvage Grasu).

I do wonder if the Bears will go more quick tempo/shot-gun now with them on board.

For as big as Howard is, he also ran out of a quick temp O in college, so he’d be comfortable in that scheme (just don’t throw it to him).

leftcoastdave

I’m still lovin on Hiestadt to coach up the line to the new O schemes.

CanadaBear

Gotta admit I’m starting to get optimistic! Not that I know for sure but it seems like Nagy filled out his 3 coordinators in short order. I’m a little concerned about Helfrich might be a loose cannon but I know Vic is the goods, Tabor seems like a can’t miss, HH as OL coach seems like a plus, I’m guessing Donatell is staying, plus London for RB’s. Who knows how it will turn out but there aren’t any Dave McGinnes moments.

Leftcoast posted a good artlcle below/above on the expediency of Bears hire.
We pretty much got everyone on board, while other teams are still twiddling their thumbs.

Guess we’ll find out if the quick process worked or not, but so far they look like solid hires.

There’s risk and drawbacks to all the changes, but as they say, can’t make an omelette without a few broken eggs.

CanadaBear

No eggs for me. It’s nice not to be down to seeds and stems again.

leftcoastdave

I’m loving the O connections and don’t see how Helfrich can be a problem with Nagy calling the plays. Sure, his Oregon scheme was wild and crazy but after this year of keeping everything safe and bottled up, it’s time for some wild and crazy. Like those stats on Nagy QB ints? It is as if Pace had this planned out and told Fox to teach up Trubinsky with that one thing in mind.

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